Fender

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a fender which consists of a pair of supports and a buffer and is applicable to a quay-wall or a dock, said fender comprising at least a pair of similar supports with elasticity, said pair of similar supports being either connected at the middle parts thereof or formed by two elastic members, each being composed of a flat top and a pair of supports, said two elastic members being combined at the flat tops, and opposite supports in series on both sides being connected to be substantially finished into a pair of supports connected at the middle parts.

United States Patent Inventor Jiro Narabu Tokyo, Japan Nov. 19, 1968 Feb. 16, l 971 Seibu Gomu Kagaku Kabushiki Kaisha Tokyo, Japan Aug. 10, 1968 Japan Sho 431335;:

Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee Priority FENDER 7 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. 267/140,

61/48 Int. Cl F161 1/40 Field ofSearch 267/116,

[ 56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,216,593 11/1965 Reuter et al. 267/1 (40) 3,418,816 12/1968 Kamazawa 267/!(16) Primary Examiner-James B. Marbert Attorney-Linton & Linton ABSTRACT: The present invention relates to a fender which consists of a pair of supports and a bufier and is applicable to a quay-wall or a dock, said fender comprising at least a pair of similar supports with elasticity, said pair of similar supports being either connected at the middle parts thereof or formed by two elastic members, each being composed of a flat top and a pair of supports, said two elastic members being combined at the flat tops, and opposite supports in series on both sides being connected to be substantially finished into a pair of supports connected at the middle parts.

PATENTED FEB] 6197i sum 2 OF 2 :rmo NHRABU FENDER DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Various conventional fenders have been known in the past, such as a trapezoidal fender, a fender with a shape of a trapezoid with no bottom, a saddle type fender and a square fender, in which a hollow elastic material is buckled by contact of a ship thereby absorbing the impact energy of a ship being moored to a quay or a dock. In all of these fenders, there is only one hollow portion or depression; therefore, when the fender is small, it can fully perform its function, but when it is large, the force at the point where the reaction concentrates, that is, at the point where the compressed state of supports changes into the buckled state is liable to become so great that full protection of a ships hull and a quay wall cannot be assured.

To avoid these disadvantages as a countermeasure, it would be conceivable to install small vertical fenders on a quay wall at close intervals and apply buffer surfaces of these fenders with fending members like I-steel pieces; in that case, though the load per unit length of a quay wall might be reduced, the ship's hull which is curved longitudinally would be loaded with a-near-concentrated load. Thus, such a measure would not always be effective; besides, being small, such fenders develop such small scale of buckling and such weak reaction that they can absorb only a small energy.

Meanwhile, it could be considered to increase the length of support, thereby widening the scale of buckling, but in that case, if the support was made with constant thickness, the buckling would be more likely to happen with an increase in the length and the reaction would be smaller, but the absorbed impact energy would be extremely small. Thus, the function of the fenders would be practically lost.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a correspondingly larger fender to take care of increased dimensions of ships in recent times.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fender which, though large in size, can absorb the impact energy with a relatively low reaction, because when the forward and rearward portion of its supports receive a ships impact, they can make almost independent buckling, thereby giving no damage either to a ships hull or to a quay wall and other structures.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a fender which is formed by two trapezoidal members, each being composed of a flat top and a pair of supports, said two members being combined at the flat tops, thereby making it easy and simple to produce them at the plant, carry them to the port, etc., and assemble them at the site where they are to be put in service.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a fender made of a definite quantity of elastic material which can absorb large impact energy.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a fender which can give sufficient reaction to absorb the impact energy though it has a wide scale of buckling in supports.

From the following description of some embodiments of the invention referring to the attached drawing, the objects and effects of the present invention will be better understood.

FIG. 1 is a transverse section of a first embodiment of a fender according to the present invention wherein two elastic tubular bodies trapezoidal in cross section are combined at the tops thereof with iron plates attached between them;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section of another modified embodiment of a fender according to the present invention wherein the tops of two tubular bodies illustrated in FIG. 1 are combined together by bolts without iron plates between them;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the fender illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section of a third modified embodiment of a fender wherein two tubular bodies illustrated in FIG. 2 have no parts of the bottoms respectively;

FIG. 5 is an elevation of a set of a plurality of fenders being attached to a quay wall; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are transverse sections of fourth and fifth modified embodiments, according to the present invention.

EXAMPLE I The embodiment illustrated in FIG. I represents a fender wholly made of rubber; it is formed by two tubular bodies trapezoidal in cross section, each being composed of a flat top 3, which is embedded with an iron plate 8 fitted with a fitting plate 1 by a screw 2, a pair of divergent supports 4, 4, and a bottom 5 which is either attached to a quay wall or serves as a buffer, said two bodies being combined at the tops with said fitting plates between them by bolts and nuts 6, one bottom 5 being anchor bolted to a quay wall and the other bottom 5 being attached with a fending member 7 by bolt and nut 9. The fending member is made of an I-steel member or a square wooden piece and 10 is an iron plate.

EXAMPLE II In the modified embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 the supports 14, 14 and the bottom 15 are the same as in the above example, but there is no iron fitting plate attached to the top 13. inside of the two tubular bodies combined at the top 13 there are applied iron plates 18, which are screwed together with the tops by bolts 16.

EXAMPLE III In the modified example illustrated in FIG. 4, hollow trapezoidal members which have no bottoms as in the two preceding examples are combined together, with iron plates applied inside of the tops and screwed together.

FIG. 5 shows a set of the fenders illustrated in FIG. 1 being attached to a quay wall, with a fending member all over the buffers; the dotted line corresponds to the whole set being covered with a board.

Whereas in the preceding examples of FIGS. 1-5, two similar tubular bodies or U-shaped members are combined at the tops, in the examples illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 the whole thing consists of a solid rubber layer, that is, the essential component of this present invention.

EXAMPLE IV The modified fender illustrated in FIG. 6 is composed of a pair of opposite supports 24, 24, top 23, bottom 25, and bridge 27 which connects said supports at the middle parts between said top 23 and said bottoms 25; and said bridge 29 is embedded with a strong textile cloth or iron plate to prevent the expansion of its length.

EXAMPLE V The modified fender illustrated in FIG. 7 is composed of a pair of outward bent supports 34, 34, top 33, bottom 36, and bridge 39 which connects said supports 34, 34 at the bend portions thereof, said bottom 36 being equipped with projections at both ends and said projections being attached to the quay wall with anchor bolts. Said bridge is embedded with a strong plastic cloth or iron plate 35; 37 in FIG. 7 is an iron plate.

In the examples described above, it goes without saying that each corresponding member is mutually interchangeable, and in the examples I, II, and III the combined and screwed tops constitute substantially the bridging part of the opposite supports on both sides.

In the examples I, II, and III shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, the bottom where the fending member is fitted constitutes a buffer, while in the examples IV and V shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the top acts as a buffer.

As described above, the fender according to the present invention is constituted by an elastic material like rubber and composed of at least a pair of opposite supports, a buffer, a fixture, and a bridging part which connects at the middle parts of the opposite supports. Under this arrangement a very considerable absorption of impact energy with specified reaction is possible, thereby assuring not only substantial saving of materials but also full protection of a ships hull and a quay wall.

In the example where the tops serving as the bridging parts are combined by screws, the metal mold and other production facilities can be very small and the products can be very easily carried to the site of installation and installed on a quay wall, thereby cutting down the production cost and shortening the construction period.

The present invention is not confined to the particular ernbodiments illustrated in the above examples. It may be appropriately modified within the limits of the following claims.

lclaim:

l. A dock fender comprising a hollow member of a resilient material, having a pair of opposite spaced apart supports, a bufier member at one end of said supports and a fixture at the other end of said supports, a bridging member connecting and extending between the medial portions of said supports for preventing the buckling of said supports when under pressure.

2. A dock fender as claimed in claim 1 wherein said hollow member supports each consists of a pair of supports positioned end to end, said bridging member consists of a pair of members each connecting opposite ones of the pair of supports of said hollow member supports and means connecting said pair of bridging members.

3. A dock fender as claimed in claim 1 wherein a metal plate is embedded in said bridging member and extends between said supports.

4. A dock fender as claimed in claim 1 wherein a plastic cloth is embedded in said bridging member.

5. A dock fender as claimed in claim 1 including a fending member attached to said buffer member.

6. A dock fender comprising hollow member including a pair of hollow bodies each of a trapezoidal cross-sectional configuration and positioned end to end, a pair of metal plates each in one of said hollow bodies and bolts extending through said hollow body ends and connected to said plates retaining said hollow bodies together.

7. A dock fender as claimed in claim 6 wherein said metal plates are each embedded in one of said hollow body ends, a second pair of metal plates are positioned between said hollow body ends, means connects each of said first plate to one of said second plates and means connects said second pair of plates together. 

1. A dock fender comprising a hollow member of a resilient material, having a pair of opposite spaced apart supports, a buffer member at one end of said supports and a fixture at the other end of said supports, a bridging member connecting and extending between the medial portions of said supports for preventing the buckling of said supports when under pressure.
 2. A dock fender as claimed in claim 1 wherein said hollow member supports each consists of a pair of supports positioned end to end, said bridging member consists of a pair of members each connecting opposite ones of the pair of supports of said hollow member supports and means connecting said pair of bridging members.
 3. A dock fender as claimed in claim 1 wherein a metal plate is embedded in said bridging member and extends between said supports.
 4. A dock fender as claimed in claim 1 wherein a plastic cloth is embedded in said bridging member.
 5. A dock fender as claimed in claim 1 including a fending member attached to said buffer member.
 6. A dock fender comprising hollow member including a pair of hollow bodies each of a trapezoidal cross-sectional configuration and positioned end to end, a pair of metal plates each in one of said hollow bodies and bolts extending through said hollow body ends and connected to said plates retaining said hollow bodies together.
 7. A dock fender as claimed in claim 6 wherein said metal plates are each embedded in one of said hollow body ends, a second pair of metal plates are positioned between said hollow body ends, means connects each of said first plate to one of said second plates and means connects said second pair of plates together. 